In keeping with all the SXRD projectors we've seen to date, the Sony VPL-VW80 is quite a looker.

Its beautifully black – sorry, Midnight Sky – finish and distinctive lozenge shape combine with an outstanding build quality to imperious effect.

Tucked under a ledge down one side is a variety of inputs, including two v1.3 HDMI sockets, two 12V trigger outputs (one for fi ring up an electric screen, one for anamorphic zoom mode), a PC port, and an RS232 jack so the projector can be integrated into a full home cinema system.

A third HDMI would have been appreciated on such a costly projector; after all, Panasonic's incoming PT-AE3000 projector will have three HDMIs, and that's only costing around £2,200. Still, I guess if you can afford a VW80 you can also afford an HDMI switching box!

Film Projection system

The VW80 has an immense feature list, but one aspect in particular stands out: MotionFlow processing. This actually comprises two individually controllable elements, Motion Enhancement and Film Projection. The first of these calculates and then adds extra frames of data between the real image frames of a source, to reduce judder as objects cross the screen, and help motion look crisper.

The Film Projection system is similar, in that while it, too, adds extra frames of image data, these are darkened to give pictures a vaguely flickery look reminiscent of the 24-frames-a-second celluloid experience. This effect should also again reduce motion blur, since it stops our eyes from trying to 'fill in the blanks' between frames.

In practice, I actually found the Film Projection methodology more effective than Motion Enhancement. For while Motion Enhancement does indeed make for smoother viewing, it also generates unwanted side effects including shimmering noise around fast-moving objects, and occasional glitching during camera pans.

The Film Projection options aren't perfect, but despite initially making me feel like I'd gone back to watching an old 50Hz TV, over time I kind of grew to like the gentle flickering effect – especially for the way it genuinely seemed to make movie motion look more natural.

Super sharp images

Oddly, I never grew to like the comparable processing employed on Sony's current SXRD flagship, the VW200. But I believe there's a reason for this, namely the way the VW200's brighter, more dynamic pictures exaggerate the flickering effect just a little too much.

Another water-cooler-worthy addition to the VW80's specification sheet is its Bravia Engine 2 processing tech. Honed like Excalibur, this silicon helps the VW80 produce HD pictures of outrageous sharpness. Indeed, I don't think I've seen any other projector costing below five figures able to do better justice to the detailed freeway fracas sequence on the Transformers Blu-ray.

Intense black levels

Another eye-catcher is the VW80's claimed contrast ratio of 60,000:1. Even using a dynamic iris fudge, 60,000:1 is a remarkably high contrast ratio figure for a home cinema PJ, yet our Tech Labs measured a post-calibration rating of nearly 43,000:1, so it seems the Sony marketing department isn't that far off.

This contrast helps deliver some excellent black levels. During the nearly eternally dark scenes of Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, for instance, the frequently pitch black London backdrops are portrayed with hardly any grey cloudiness. Also, enough subtle shadow details are retained to give the city three-dimensional life.

I'd argue that dark scenes on the VW80 look more stable than they do on the more expensive Sony VW200, thanks presumably to the dynamic iris adapting more quickly to changes in an image's brightness content.